Pinterest

Friday, 29 April 2016

As there are five Fridays in the month, it is time for a Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey.

I wanted to cut into my Tim Holtz 'Dapper' papers' and use them in a more feminine way than

perhaps they were intended.

I didn't take many photos as I was not sure where this tag was going when I started (as with most of my work, lol). I glued a piece of the beautiful Dapper papers to some card and then I die cut the tag with Tim's Tag & Bookplates die and then edged the tag with Ground Espresso Distress Ink.

I then cut the doily from Tim's Doily #2 die (a gift from my very dear friend Kath), and edged it with Ground Espresso Distress Ink.

The flower was created using Tim's Tattered Floral Bigz die (cut twice to give more fullness), from card coloured with Gathered Straw Distress Spray Stain. The ribbon was coloured with Tea Dye Distress Spray Stain.

To finish off I added a Big Chat sticker and a small piece of ribbon to the top If you have the time I hope you will pop over to A Vintage Journey to see what my talented teamies have made.

There are a few days left of our current challenge - Spring is in the Air - we would love to see you join in, if you have not already done so!

I had no idea how hard it would be to find a cigar box, I searched the internet, ordered one

from a auction site, going for the 'pot luck' option. They sent me a beautiful box, which cost

peanuts, it is beautiful, quite large, but definitely not a cigar box, but a tea box! Then we were

out shopping and we went past an old fashioned Tobacconist shop and I got one - for free!

I decided after having some success with some Structurizer fabric hardener, that it was time

to move on to Powertex - scary, messy but lots of fun! I really didn't know where I was

going with the project but in the end it became a sea theme - no surprises there then!

Here is the finished box:

This is how it started out:

A coat of Gesso

Now for the fun part, adding the fabrics, stings, mesh, art balls, all coated in Powertex, I gave the sides a coat of DecoArt Texture Sand Paste. I left it to dry overnight.

I cannot tell you how many inks and sprays I used to colour the top, I didn't like the colours at first and changed them at least half a dozen times - I used DecoArt Media sprays, Dylusions, Lindy's Stamp Gang, Tim Holtz Distress Stain and even some Ranger Perfect Pearls. I finally got to the stage where I actually quite liked it! It was the final colours that made me decide on a sea theme.

I found some bits and pieces and also painted the inside of the box with Powercolour crystals in Ultramarine blue mixed with water, the colour is much more beautiful in real life. I found some Calico Craft chippies and a couple of other things that I intend to use to decorate the inside and outside of the box.

I added a couple of starfish, coloured with Spiced Marmalade Distress Stain.

The wheel was rusted Andy Skinner style using a layer of DecoArt Texture Sand Paste, DecoArt Media Fluid in Paynes Grey topped with a layer of Quinacridone Gold and finally DecoArt Ultra Matte Varnish, drying between each coat.

I was going to decorate the inside with an underwater scene but I ran out of time, so I will do

Monday, 18 April 2016

Just a quick post to share what I made at the fabulous Ministry of Mixology class, last weekend, that I attended with some lovely and talented friends (Jennie, Julia and Nikki from A Vintage Journey) and of course, the amazing talent that is Andy Skinner!

It never ceases to amaze me how chipboard can be transformed into something

that looks like metal, I just love this piece! It measure 9" x 12" approximately.

A close up of those fabulous rivets

Rusty wire was added to the heart and in the background are some of Andy's

new stamp release (which of course I had to buy...). I am late posting this as I had not finished
the heart and wire.....and did this at home along with the apron below.

Tuesday, 5 April 2016

Over at Anything But Cute the talented Samra (Paper Talk with Samra) is our hostess this
month and she has chosen the theme of Earth Day! We have a fantastic Guest Designer

today too, please do hop over for a look if you can.

I used the beautiful Tim Holtz seahorse dies to create an underwater scene.

Samra says: Create a mixed media project inspired by this mood board and the
beauty of our planet. Please tell us what inspired you. Entries for this challenge can
be eco friendly, or even re-cycled or up-cycled items; or depictions of the sea, mountains,
rivers, forests or flowery meadows .... let's celebrate our planet!!

I just love Samra's challenge theme, I was really inspired by the gorgeous colours in

the mood board. It was perfect for me as I absolutely adore seahorses, they are an
endangered species where we live and I wanted to celebrate them.

First, I painted the chipboard (6" x 6" board from IndigoBlu) with white Gesso and once dry
applied the Golden Fiber Paste, it has a lovely thick and pulpy texture. I just used the palette
knife and my fingers to make an 'underwater pattern'.

Whilst the paste was drying I used Distress Crayons to colour the die cut seahorses (which
had been gessoed first - the crayons work much better when the card has some 'tooth'), moving
the colour with my finger. A coat of Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint
was then applied, quite thickly.

Apologies, I got a bit wrapped up in the painting and did not take photos of the painting steps

I applied the first mix of colour to the whole of the base. I lightened some areas with the
second mix to create some 'movement' in the water. Lastly, with a thin brush I applied the
Gold Green (the other paint was still wet at the time) to some of the
ridges to create 'grasses'.

I used the IndigoBlu bubble stamp with the white paint to create some bubbles near to the
seahorses, you can just about see them here. I added beads to the seahorses for eyes.
I thought it needed something extra and I had this string net in my stash, so I attached it
along with some shells and a beautiful blue starfish (purchased from a seaside souvenir shop).

To finish off I painted a piece of card with some leftover paint and stamped the IndigoBlu
sentiment and embossed it in white embossing powder.

I really did enjoy making this piece for Samra's challenge at Anything But Cute, I hope you
can go over to see how my talented team mates interpreted the Earth Day theme! Why not
join us? We would love to see how you interpret the theme....

Friday, 1 April 2016

'Leave those winter blues behind. Make anything that says SPRING, using pastel

colours. It is your choice, a card, canvas, 3D or a tag etc., but remember it should

be in one of our vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journalling; industrial or

steampunk styles that we favour'.

I really needed to make some cards for my birthday box and since most of my
friends don't always appreciate really shabby, mixed media type cards, this challenge is just
perfect for me to create some softer toned cards that celebrate Spring!

I started by colouring an A4 (letter size) piece of card with Distress Ink in Broken China and Worn Lipstick and cut a 6" square for the base. I stamped onto the remaining piece and cut it into strips and laid these on the card. I used Tim Holtz's Flourish Stencil and DecoArt Crackle paste to create some interest in the corners. I die cut the gorgeous Doily by Tim Holtz (a gift from a lovely friend) and lightly coloured it with Distress Ink. The seed packet is from the internet and the butterflies are Prima stamps. To finish off, I flicked some Broken China, Picket Fence and Worn Lipstick Distress Paint over the background.

Here is a close-up of the focal point(s). The wire is silver wire that I coated with Gesso to tone down the shine, I quite like how it turned out.

I thought it needed a 'lift' as the colours were so pale, so I painted another piece of card in Broken China Distress Paint and made a mat. Both edges were distressed and then lightly coloured with Broken China Distress Ink.

I ended up making four cards, but this is the only one that photographed reasonably well, but at least I have plenty of cards in my birthday box now!

Our sponsor this month is Country View Crafts who have a £20 voucher for one randomly drawn winner and as always the team will choose three Pinworthies to feature on our Pinterest board.

I hope you will join us at A Vintage Journey, it would be lovely to see your Spring themed mixed media/shabby or vintage creations! Do please have a look to see what my talented team-mates have made, you won't be disappointed!